Jessica has tagged me to do the What’s New Meme which has been around since Jessica invented it last week. So I’m supposed to tell you five things that are new in my life. Except that right now EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE IS NEW. And you may not realize this, but EVERYTHING is kind of a big pool to choose from. Nevertheless, I did come up with something and here they are in no particular order:

1. Extended alone time with my son: Avery will be starting school on Monday and this isn’t exactly new since she went half days last year. But those half days were during Kieran’s nap-time and this year she will be gone all morning and a good part of the afternoon which means I will have mornings alone with Kieran for the first time…ever!  I’m kind of excited to get to know him outside of the shadow of his big sister.  I’m also a little worried that he has been so reliant on her for entertainment that we might be in for a rough transition.  Hold me!

2. Garbage Disposals: It appears that garbage disposals are commonplace around where we live. Every place we’ve stayed since arriving in Boston and every rental property and property for sale that we viewed had one.  And they weren’t all necessarily treasures, if you know what I mean. But still they had garburators.  Oh wait. They don’t call them that here. Anyway, in the places I’ve lived they have been much less common and I’m not sure why it’s deemed a necessity here.  I do know that the hubby and I needed some education on what I could and couldn’t put down there.  Turns out that watermelon rind takes a long time to grind up. Heh.  

3. Transit Rage: The uncommonly muggy weather definitely played a part in the explosive and distressing scene that played out on the subway today. It was hot, it was very crowded and everyone was feeling cranky. So when a lady with a bad attitude and a short temper started pushing her way into a train car and cursing at the slow moving crowd and her loud-mouthed husband it was not exactly surprising. We all felt on edge. But the lack of restraint and social awareness was appalling. As was the fact that another such unrestrained person with several children who let a string of curse words fly that would make a sailor blush when she was verbally assaulted for getting on before Bike Lady and her ill-mannered husband had disembarked. I’m not overly protective of my kids hearing “bad” words. I use appropriate language around them (most of the time) and I don’t want to make a huge deal of every little naughty word their delicate ears might hear. But I can’t excuse repeated and deliberate shrieking of c*nt and f*ck in front of other people’s children, let alone your OWN kids.  My 5 year old was really upset by the encounter and my 2 year old would have been if he wasn’t sleeping through all the commotion. Besides all this, I’m not a confrontational kind of person and this kind of screaming and raging made me really anxious. Hours later, I still feel tense. 

4. Video Games: I bought the hubby a used Wii for his birthday and we have been eagerly trying out a variety of sports, cooking games and old school Mario.  I didn’t grow up with video games, although I did play my share of Super Mario 3 at friend’s houses. But any skill I may have had as a kid has long since returned from whence it came.  Bottom line: there was a lot of cursing. (I didn’t say I didn’t approve of all swearing - just not in front of the kids or at random strangers on the subway!)

5. Politics: I have never had a passionate interest in politics, other than an unwavering conviction that EVERYONE has a duty to vote. But recently I find myself at least wanting to be more informed about both Canadian and American politics. Being in the US in the final months gearing up to an election has proven interesting. It has also inspired me to develop a better understanding of the Canadian system as all too often I find myself saying “Does Canada do X, too?” or “How does it work when Y in Canada?”. All too often I have no idea.  Just this morning in Canada parliament was dissolved and an election called for October 14.  Meanwhile the American election campaign has been going for something like a flobbity-gillion months (Why yes, I did just start watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother.) and still going strong.  It is interesting to see how our two countries do things differently and the ways in which that affects our cultures, governments and ideologies. 

So there you have it. I’m not going to tag anybody this time. But if you need inspiration for a blog post, consider yourself tagged!